This week I had the please of meeting Hayley. She is very sweet and kind. She also listened to my senior year advice so thank you Hayley for not rolling your eyes. LOL.

Hayley is a undeclared major freshman. She is unsure about what major she wants to pursue because the options are endless. She used to want to be an art major but then she realized that the degree is too much of creating art and not enough of learning about it. For her career, she thinks she may be leaning towards an Art Director position.

She enjoys photography and spending time in her own mind. She likes to write down ideas and think about inventions but through a business lens! I think she would be a great entrepreneur! She said she is open to whatever but unsure of anything just yet.

She currently works at an elementary school part time but will hopefully pick up a job this summer. She has also worked as an intern for a photographer!

I wish you the best of luck in your next three years, Hayley! Thanks for chatting with me. 🙂

As a graduating senior, I have thought about my future life A LOT the last few months. I will be graduating with a lot of school loan and credit card debt. And I don’t have a job nor do I have any prospects for post graduation. I quit my job a few months to work exclusively on reselling thrift store finds on eBay. While I am much happier, the debt and anxiety keeps racking up.

3 Possible Future Me’s

Private Investigator: After graduation, I will get a job in San Diego working as a defense contractor private investigator with CACI. I will move in with my friend Danny, who I met while thrifting at Goodwill. I will take my dog Rocky with me and my boyfriend will be training for the military in San Diego as well. Part time, I will continue to sell on eBay for extra cash to pay off my credit card and school debt. I will do all the things I wanted to do.

Year 1: Move in with Danny, work on eBay, pay off credit card debt. Save money. Buy a DSLR camera and experiment with photography. Have fun and be young.

Year 2: Buy a new car. Get promoted. Continue to save money and pay off bills. Have fun and be young. Take the trip to Europe that you always wanted.

Year 3: Get engaged. Get promoted again. Move out on my own because boyfriend will be training still. Have fun and be young. Take another trip to somewhere else.

Year 4: Get married. Pay off ALL debt. Adopt more dogs. Start to have children. Have fun and be young. Take another trip.

Year 5: Have more children. Buy a bigger house. Have fun and be young.

9-5 Office Job: After graduation, I will move back home to Bakersfield with my parents. I will get a full time job working at the County of Kern in some 9-5 departmental job. Part time I will try to sell on eBay still but I will be too tired after work. I will quit eBay and stop working out.

Year 1: Move back in with parents. Find a full time 9-5 job. Move out into my own apartment. Adopt another dog. Volunteer at animal shelter again. Break up with long term boyfriend. Save some money but spend most of it. Pay off credit card and school debt slowly.

Year 2: Meet someone new. Go out to clubs/bars every Saturday night. Date people. Start to save money. Continue to pay off debt.

Year 3: Continue to pay off debt. Date someone seriously.

Year 4: Move into my own house. Adopt more dogs.

Year 5: Get promoted. Adopt more dogs. Maybe take a trip to Europe like you’ve always wanted.

EBAY SELLER & DOG MOM & PHOTOGRAPHER: After graduation, move to San Diego with my thrifting friend Danny. I will sell on eBay full time and take care of my dog. My boyfriend will join the military and train in San Diego while I live there. We will have a great relationship. I will pay off ALL debt overnight. We will eventually get engaged, then married, and I will no longer to sell on eBay at all. I will follow him wherever his orders move us to. I will stay at home and take care of the dogs. I will also become a foster mom for local shelters as well.

Year 1: Move to San Diego with Danny. Sell on eBay full time. Take dog Rocky with me. Get engaged with my boyfriend. Plan extravagant marriage. Buy DSLR camera. Take trip to Europe.

Year 2: Stop selling on eBay. Get married. Start photography company. Move in to house. Take a trip.

Year 3: Become famous photographer. Adopt more dogs. Take a trip.

Year 4: Purchase land for vacation cabin home in Montana. Begin architecture design. Take a trip.

Conclusion

This imagination session has helped me to realize there are more options out there for me. I do not have to be stuck in the same situation if I do not want to be. There are different options out there but only some will make me happy.

My main goal is to move to San Diego but it depends if I can find a job soon after graduation. I would like to become engaged with my boyfriend of almost four years. Ideally, I would like to follow him wherever he goes but it depends on my job, if I can find one. I would love for future number 3 to work out but since I have to pay off credit card debt, I am aiming for number 1.

Even after this project, I am still nervous and unsure. I hope that I make the best decisions for me and my future.

Sketching in the Japanese Gardens has been my favorite activity hands down. When I walked to the Garden from the parking lot across the street, I was unsure of what we were supposed to sketch. This was actually my first time in the garden since I transferred last year. Thank goodness for the activity because I am not sure I would have went otherwise. However, I am very glad I had the opportunity to visit.

The whole experience was extremely peaceful and relaxing. After the last year and semester, it was perfect to be able to wind down in the garden. The sound of the water fall and the birds added to the overall calming experience. I loved that the sketches were open to interpretation so we could choose which part of the garden was best for us. There was no pressure to do exact sketches because the requirements were mostly free sketch. We were to practice different types of sketching with minimal detail.

Overall, I would like to go back and practice sketching again, except I will not practice the sketch where I look away and try to draw what I see without looking down!

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Garrett. His is a fifth year student at CSULB (super senior) who is due to graduate this month. He will be receiving a degree in Communications. He enjoys skateboarding, attending music festivals, and tattooing strawberries on himself. I made a pun of his “strawberry” but he did not laugh.. I thought large bruises were often called strawberries. Maybe its just in my family? He recently went to Coachella and enjoyed himself with friends. I simply explained Coachella is a place for millennials to do drugs and dance erotically. LOL. (not judging)

Anyway, Garrett shared with me that he a first generation Mexican American. He also speaks fluent Spanish, unlike me. I asked if he was the first to attend college in his family as I am and he said no. He is one out of five siblings with some who already have college degrees! I told him he has high standards to uphold. He just laughed and said, “Yeah.” His favorite artist/producer is Odesza but I still have no idea who that is.

I had a great conversation with Garrett and I wish we could have shared more giggles earlier in the semester. I wish him luck on all of his future endeavors.

After a long few weeks of not knowing anyone, I finally met Jared and we instantly became friends! He laughs at my dumb jokes and lets me know I am NOT the weirdest person on campus. According to him, there are NO girls in the engineering side of campus. So we had to walk a walk that way, just to make sure he was right.. Final verdict, he was right.

Jared is currently a junior at CSULB. He is majoring in engineering and is usually swamped studying or taking extremely hard engineering exams. He is from the San Jose area and he hopes to return there after graduation next year. He would like to find a job somewhere in Silicon Valley and engineer the next coolest invention. We talked about Long Beach and San Jose, and my hometown Bakersfield. He misses home often and has decided he is not really a Long Beach person either.

He has sweet doggies at home that he loves to talk about. And he has a girlfriend who currently attends CSU Fullerton. Together, they enjoy mother nature and all her beauty. You can usually catch Jared hiking, or busting his toe open skin boarding on the weekends! (Yes, he actually showed me a picture of his open toe!!!).

About the Artist

Krystal is in her last semester at CSULB. She will be receiving her BFA in metal and jewelry making. She enjoys creating art that is not only beautiful but also has a purpose. This intent can be seen in her jewelry making as well as her blacksmith work.

Formal Analysis

There was a large wooden table in the center of the gallery. On the table there was was light colored wood circles. The dark wood of the table contrasted the lighter, wood circles above. Above the circles, there were eleven pieces she hand crafted. Each piece had its own meaning. They each represented an object that can be used during dinner. The pieces were crafted from different metals such as steel, pewter, and brass. Moreover, the different colors of the metals contrasted and complemented all of the colors from the dark table. Everything seemed warm and inviting.

Content Analysis

Because she is Latina, the artist wanted to incorporate the significance of family in her culture into her art. In Latin culture, families are the center of everything. Families share everything as well from raising children to pots, pans, and memories. A long with the family comes large dinner at holidays and parties. It is also at the table where important memories are made. Each piece is based on a significant moment/person at the dinner table, who has strongly influenced the person she is today.

Synthesis / My Experience

Everything about this exhibit resonated with who I am and what I remember growing up. I am Latina so I also grew up creating memories over dinner with my family. Even if there was no reason to get together, my family would make an excuse and we would all fit into someone’s small house. While the utensils were different and the color of table may have been a little lighter, those are memories I will never forget. The artist’s exhibit reminded me of my culture and I hope to never forget it.

Exhibition Information

About the Artist

The artist is pursuing their MFA in Project Exhibition at California State University, Long Beach. The purpose of their gallery is to explore the impact the internet and technology can have on art. As the artist wrote, “A digital file can be altered and edited indefinitely.” Through their work the artist also wanted to explore whether something is real or unreal, based on the digital world we live in.

Formal Analysis

The work is abstract due to its impressionist nature. There are straight line layered underneath splotches and strokes of paint. Some pieces have impressions of famous sculptures on the bottom layer. Others, are layered paint. There are loops and gradient swatches of paint. Some natural shapes are presented such squares and rectangles but they are not as frequent as the random swatches of paint.

Content Analysis

The pieces are intended to represent a digital image, edited and altered by some technique. From the shapes of the strokes and the square lines, it appears to be a representation of photoshop editing. With the click of a mouse, someone’s art can quickly become something else. There is no fine line between real and unreal because technology has allowed us to recreate indefinitely. Expressionism through a brushstroke is no longer significant as digital editing can create the same effects. The individualism in art is lost with digital editing.

Synthesis / My Experience

I really liked this artist’s work because it seemed “raw.” Above the painted sculpted images, there was something else going on. The artist’s meaning was well depicted in the pieces and I could see that he was struggling with a new vs. old idea. However, I thought the artist was trying to make a statement about the definition/perception of art. While old sculptures are beautiful, new, modern art is also just as important. Despite my different interpretation, the artist’s work still made me feel emotional through the use of colors and naturalness.

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